The man who wants Cheney's Enron files

It's GAO policy to treat requests from ranking members of the minority on par with those of a committee chair, Walker says. The request couldn't be refused.

For months, the April 19 request met with rebuffs or silence from the vice president's office. Walker scaled back his request: Instead of notes and materials, the GAO would settle for names, dates, and general topics of discussion. The new request was modest, compared with the transcripts, e-mails, and tapes of conversations that previous congressional investigations have accessed, experts say.

But the vice president - a veteran of congressional-executive branch skirmishes in four previous GOP administrations - was not budging. In a tough Aug. 2 letter, Cheney warned Senate and House leaders that the actions of their agent, the Comptroller General, "exceeded his lawful authority" and if allowed to continue, "would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch."

He argues that turning over the records would undercut the free and open discussion of issues in the White House.

On Aug. 17, Walker sent a tough letter of his own, notifying the White House of statutory noncompliance within the executive branch. Only six such letters have been sent in the last 21 years. According to statute, the next step is the courts.

Then came the Sept. 11 attacks, which put off the day in court. Then the Enron debacle, which revived the issue of corporate influence in government. On Jan. 30, Walker wrote to Congress announcing his decision to file suit. No comptroller general has ever gone to court to force the executive branch to release documents it doesn't want to give up.

But Walker says he has no choice. "To allow someone to absolutely stonewall you is not something desirable, and if you don't take definite action, it can wind up proliferating," he says.

Before taking on his appointment as Comptroller General in 1998, Walker was a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP's human capital services practice - a consulting arm of the firm, which he expanded dramatically.

He did not handle the Enron accounts, but analysts say the association with Enron's lead auditing firm could be seen as a reason to stand tough on this request.

"One can imagine what the controller general - a former partner in Arthur Anderson - would be opening himself up to, if he decided to go lightly on this issue," says Peter Shane, law professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

He's also opening himself, and the GAO, up to political reprisals. The office of comptroller general is one of the most secure political appointments in Washington: a 15 year term. But the job isn't bullet-proof. A former GAO head resigned after intense criticism, and the agency saw its budgets slashed in the 1990s.

Still, former associates say that's not likely to be a deciding factor in what is shaping up as a fight on principles for both the vice president and comptroller general. "He's a rigidly straight arrow, absolutely driven by the desire for public service," says James Klein, a longtime friend. "I'm confident that he's getting no joy from this scrutiny or having to go up against ... the administration."

"When he decides to do something and feels it's the right thing, he'll do it," adds a former coworker. "They had no idea who they were tackling when they tackled Dave Walker."

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